Sports

The King's Christian Grade 11 guard torched the Algonquin Barons for 26 points Tuesday night, including an off-balance buzzer-beating three at the half, as the fourth-seeded Cavaliers from Oakville won 76-46 to advance to the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations boys' 'A' basketball semifinals today at Ecole Secondaire Catholique Algonquin.

The Barons had little answer for Gulersen, a wiry, energetic guard who was just as adept on defence and finding open teammates as he was cutting through the lane or popping a three.

"He has an unlimited ceiling and I know that sounds cliche," said Cavaliers coach Eric Bulthuis, a former OCAA scoring champ with Redeemer College who played professional in Europe. "But it's fun to coach him because he does it all. He thinks of his teammates first. I think he had 27 tonight and he could have had 50, but he's worried that his teammates will think that he hogs the ball.

"He wants everybody involved and I think that was pretty obvious in the way he played today."

Hayden Kim had 17 points as well for the Cavs, who face the No. 1 John L. Forster Spartans at noon. The No. 2 Ridley College Tigers from St. Catharines and the No. 3 Deslauriers Phenix from Ottawa play for the other spot in the gold-medal final at 10:30 a.m.

The party is over, however, for the host Barons, who advanced to the quarter-finals with a 54-40 win over Collingwood's Pretty River Predators earlier in the day, avenging a loss in last year's OFSAA consolation final.

Matt Blanchfield had 13 points for the Barons in the quarter-final loss to the Cavaliers while Eric Huard added 10 points with a spirited effort in his last game at home.

The second-year Grade 12 guard graduates this spring.

"I wanted to make history for the Barons so bad, just to medal at OFSAA," said Huard, who played his final game in a Barons uniform along with Chris Bedard, Miguel Champagne, Blanchfield, Max Robertson, Taylor Nantel and the injured Seb Maille.

"But this was special because not everyone gets to host OFSAA on their home court, right? I had my parents here to watch my last basketball games at the biggest high school basketball tournament in Ontario . . . It's something I'll remember and hopefully tell my kids one day."

Barons coach Tim Lowe said his team, which qualified for the NDA final for the first time in decades and won their second straight NOSSA boys' 'A' basketball banner, had nothing to hang their heads about after playing the quick, talented and aggressive Cavaliers, who have averaged 76.67 points per game in the tournament thus far.

"That was our 43rd game, we're 31-12, that's a pretty good season," said Lowe, who will return three of his starters next season - Ricky Dussault, Gabriel Rancourt and Tanner Owca. "I'm proud of them all. A lot of ups and not too many downs, and it's been a fun season."

In other championship quarter-finals:

No. 1 John L. Forster 49, No. 14 O'Gorman 22

The Spartans ended the Timmins team's Cinderella run despite being tied 13-13 in the second quarter. Jermaine Lynch had 15 for Forster. Brayden Ritchie led the Knights with 7.

No. 3 Deslauriers 65, No. 6 Holy Trinity 58

Sherif Bah had 23 points as the Phenix were able to weather a 25-point performance from the Falcons' Matt Rochon.

No. 2 Ridley College 72, No. 7 Mitchell 57

Cooper Rigg continued to torch the field, scoring 25 to lead the Tigers and is averaging 27 points per game after the first three rounds. Nathan Smitjes led the Blue Devils with 16.

In the consolation quarters:

No. 16 Crawford Adventist 76, No. 9 Notre Dame 46

Jeremy Hall had 18 points as the Omega outscored the Celts in each quarter. Damonick Thomas had 13 for Notre Dame.

No. 13 West Park 73, No. 12 Pretty River 56

Missing top scorer Sam Hirst, the Preds did not go down without a fight and were tied 32-32 at the half as Cole Thomson was the first player to crack 30 points in the tournament. But Ben Limary's 21 points helped lead the Warriors to a 41-24 second half.